Posted tagged ‘CHEA Home School Convention’

Creationism hysteria has struck again, and this time the attack is targeted at homeschoolers. A two-hour YouTube video titled “Home School abuse by Creationists“, shows a recorded Google Hangout of several atheists huffing, whining, head-shaking, and hand-waving over the fact that Christians like me believe Scripture gives an accurate account of history. The atheists are particularly in a kerfuffle over Ken Ham, to the point they are organizing a “protest” at the THSC Home School Convention, August 1-3, 2013, in The Woodlands, TX, where Mr. Ham is speaking. They are also considering protesting the CHEA Home School Convention, June 6-8, 2013, in Anaheim, CA, where Mr. Ham is a keynote speaker.

Some of the women in the video homeschool their own children, and they make some good points about problems with government education, and how other atheists shouldn’t chastise them for wanting to give their children a better education than government schools can. Unfortunately, when it comes to understanding science, or its language, mathematics, these atheists seemed woefully unprepared to give their children anything remotely resembling a proper science and math education.

Where Atheists Always Err

Without fail, hysterical anti-creationists muddle the distinction between a scientific thing and a historic thing. Over and over in this 2-hour video, complaints were made about Christian homeschoolers teaching their kids the “scientific claim” that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time in the past. But this is an interpretation of history, not a testable, repeatable scientific claim! Natural history research is about interpretation of past events, and scientific research is about verifying hypotheses through experiments others can repeat. Scientific research does not need a time machine to verify its conclusions.

At about the 39-minute mark in the video, Shayrah mentioned that this is a “great big war”, and it is “not being handled properly”. Well, that is exactly right! Atheists and Christians alike often foolishly conflate natural history research and scientific research. The creation/evolution battle is a battle over natural history claims, not scientifically testable claims, and the battle is nothing new. It’s an insatiable demand for more evidence, which you will never get enough of. In the film How to Answer the Fool, Sye Ten Bruggencate describes this as an “infinite regress”. So atheist, if you seriously want to advance learning, then don’t waste your time protesting how some Christian homeschoolers interpret history, while simultaneously demanding more and more evidence! Faith is the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:2), so have faith(or not) in the evidence from Scripture and nature regarding the past that we cannot see. Then, get beyond your creationism hysteria and get out there and discover some new disease cures, or design a more efficient automobile motor, etc.

At about the 36-minute mark, Lilandra proclaimed that “teaching the earth is 6,000 years old is not science”. Correct again! Teaching ANYTHING about earth history is not scientific teaching. It happened in the past, which is why we call it HISTORY. Natural history research certainly involves the use of scientific instruments, but it is ultimately a historic endeavor, not a scientific one.

If atheists like Shayrah, Lilandra, and her husband AronRa are serious about defusing this “great big war”, then they will make a giant intellectual leap forward and start properly discerning between a scientific thing and a historic thing. Battles over earth age and origins will always be with us, because we don’t have time machines to go back and determine exactly how it all went down. Old earth or young earth, common descent or uncommon descent, we all have the same evidence. The differences come when we try to interpret the evidence. A true freethinker (which is usually the Christian, not the atheist) will teach their child about all the evidence about our past, and let them decide which interpretation they think is the best one. And if the child ends up believing God’s story about history, and trusting Christ as their Savior, what does that matter to the free-thinking atheist? If it matters in the slightest, then they are not true free-thinkers, but rather atheists with an agenda.

Why are hysterical a-theists also a-math and a-science?

Another big disappointment in this video was the lack of any real discussion about teaching children real science and its language, mathematics. There was some discussion about scientific illiteracy, but the discussions almost always reverted back to hysteria over how to interpret natural history. For example, at about the 1 hour, 27 minute mark, Shayrah made the illogical connection that if you believe man and dinosaurs lived together, then you can’t advance the study of disease cures! Whatever.

What is logical though is this: if your child has poor math skills, it will be much more difficult to understand 21st Century science, including finding disease cures. Calculus in particular is probably one of the most important tools for students to learn. Understanding calculus opens a student up to take courses in every department on a college campus. Not knowing calculus shuts them out of most science and engineering degrees.

Not surprisingly though, calculus was not mentioned once in this two-hour atheist history rant. To the detriment of society, most atheists are totally focused on the wrong thing. They say they want more scientific literacy, but they go about it by getting hysterical about, of all things, Christian homeschoolers! Actually, if the atheists in this video were more scientifically literate, they probably wouldn’t be so hysterical about Christian homeschoolers’ beliefs about history.

Borrowing from Christianity to make sense of reality

Here is a syllogism:

Second causes have a first cause.

First causes have no cause.

God is THE first cause.

Therefore, God is without cause.

It is logical to conclude that God is without cause. What is illogical though, is to assume that nothing created everything. If, in the above syllogism, you substitute “nothing” for “God”, then the conclusion is that “nothing has no cause”. In other words, not one single thing is without cause. Everything has a cause! Except God. So, the atheist is left to teach their child the illogical claim that nothing caused all the atoms, the light, the energy, time, etc. There was no cause for all the trees, fishes, birds, and there was no cause, and therefore no purpose, for the atheist or their children. Of course, no atheist acts like this, so their idea (atheism) doesn’t match their reality.

Since the atheist must believe in a life without cause or purpose, they must borrow from Christianity to do anything, including science. The Christian understands that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to search a matter out (Proverbs 25:2). Created in His image, both male and female (Genesis 1:27), human “kings” are therefore creative, too, and designed with the ability to discover the plan and purpose God put into everything He made.

Scientific investigation is about making observations and discovering the pattern, purpose, and predictability of things. Science is about understanding what “is”, not about interpreting what “was”, and then getting hysterical when others disagree with your interpretation of what “was”. Doing science is about finding out how the world works, which is actually one of the first commands God gave humans in Genesis 1:28. He told us to take dominion, which the wise Christian interprets as being a good steward of what He made. Scientific investigation is founded in biblical Christian thinking about the world, not atheistic thinking.

Homeschooling is for everyone

To the atheist considering protesting either the THSC or CHEA conference, I urge you to not stand outside picketing, but come inside and learn! Come with a truly freethinking attitude, and get along with people you disagree with regarding earth history. But join us in our pursuit to build scientific knowledge, and set your standards for math and science education higher than the government schools do.

To anyone considering homeschooling or currently homeschooling, check out my company’s catalog to learn more, or stop by my booth at either the CA or TX conference. I would be happy to discuss science, math, and natural history with you! My math and science courses are for all homeschoolers, including the tolerant, freethinking atheist!

Whatever you do, don’t come to protest Christian interpretations of earth history. That puts the focus on the wrong thing, and makes you look like a scientifically-illiterate fool. Go after math and science knowledge for you and your children instead, but remember this: you can be incredibly smart, understanding all mysteries and all knowledge, but if you have no love for your fellow man, God considers you as nothing (I Corinthians 13:2). Thanks for reading this!